Some Soldiers Who Have Humanity
Guantanamo Prisoner Records Horrors Of Detention
WASHINGTON: A man now detained at Guantanamo has given a harrowing account of his treatment at the hands of his captors and keepers, reported Amnesty International.
A report released by Amnesty to mark the fourth anniversary of the transfer of detainees to the notorious camp maintained by the United States on leased Cuban territory, includes an account provided by Saudi detainee Jumah al-Dossari’s civilian lawyer. The first person account was written in longhand in July 2005 by the still-imprisoned Jumah al-Dossari. He writes, “I am writing the story of what I have suffered from the day I was kidnapped on the Pakistani border and sold to American troops until now and my being in Guantanamo, Cuba. What I will write here is not a flight of fancy or a moment of madness; what I will write here are the established facts and events agreed upon by detainees who were eyewitnesses to them, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as soldiers, investigators and interpreters.”
Al-Dossari writes that he passed through several small jails where there was a lot of abuse. “I had previously met several people when I was on the border, they were of different nationalities. They had left Afghanistan and the Pakistan Army abused us and gave us the worst food. They put me in a cell measuring four metres by four metres in which there were 59 prisoners without mattresses, blankets or a bathroom; there was only one bucket in the cell for everyone to relieve themselves in without a screen. They stole any passports from prisoners who were of many nationalities and also abused them. They abused me personally and beat me several times during investigations. The worst tribulation for us was when they transported us from one place to another: they would tie us up in the most savage way, so much so that some of us got gangrenous fingers and our hands and feet swelled and turned blue. They would tie us up for long periods of time in military trucks, sometimes from daybreak until night, in addition to the hours that they spent transporting us in trucks.”
Finally, the group of prisoners arrived at the Kohat airport where an American military plane, American soldiers and an American interpreter who spoke Arabic were waiting for them. “They took one by one and handed us over to the American soldiers. The deal was done and they sold us for a few dollars and they were not interested in us,” he adds.
According to al-Dossari, there were 30 of them, whom the soldiers mistreated. They beat them and took their pictures. They also kicked him in the stomach after he complained of pain. The plane landed at Kandhar after midnight. This happened in January 2002. There was even worse treatment for them in store. He was taken in to face two interrogators. The beatings and interrogations continued. He was asked to confess that he was a terrorist. He was in the third group to be moved to Guantanamo. They were put in cages and told not to talk or even touch the mesh. To relieve themselves, they had to be taken out. There was no privacy. Al-Dossari says one detainee by the name of Abdul Aziz Al-Masri was ill in hospital where beaten up in front of the doctors and nurses. His injuries were excessive and caused his spine to break. He is now hemiplegic. At the end of 2003, al-Dossari writes during an interrogation session, the Quran was desecrated and he was told that “this is a holy war between the star of David and the cross against the crescent.” By then Camp 5 had been constructed where he was taken and put in solitary. He says his state of health has worsened and he falls and faints every day. On 12 June he was given a plate of food with a dead scorpion on it. “Since the day that they threatened until now, I have been removing insects and dung beetles from the food and showing it to the soldier who then says, ‘Do you want another plate?’” He has also been on hunger strike
Al-Dossari concludes his account by affirming, “I would thus like to point out that not all of the soldiers in Guantanamo tortured and oppressed us. There were some soldiers who treated us humanely, some of them would cry because of what was happening to us and were embarrassed by the style of management at the camp and even by the American government, their lack of justice and oppression of us. To give an example, when I was in Camp India in Camp Delta and I was being tortured, an Afro-American came to me. He said sorry to me and gave me a cup of hot chocolate and some sweet biscuits. When I thanked him, he said, ‘I don’t want your thanks. I want you to know that we are not all bad and we think differently.’ When I was talking to a soldier and I told him what happened to me, he cried and had tears in his eyes. He was clearly moved. He said sorry to me about what had happened to me and he also offered me some food. These are examples to show the reader that there are some soldiers who have humanity, irrespective of their race, gender or faith.
”khalid hasan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C01%5C14%5Cstory_14-1-2006_pg7_48
WASHINGTON: A man now detained at Guantanamo has given a harrowing account of his treatment at the hands of his captors and keepers, reported Amnesty International.
A report released by Amnesty to mark the fourth anniversary of the transfer of detainees to the notorious camp maintained by the United States on leased Cuban territory, includes an account provided by Saudi detainee Jumah al-Dossari’s civilian lawyer. The first person account was written in longhand in July 2005 by the still-imprisoned Jumah al-Dossari. He writes, “I am writing the story of what I have suffered from the day I was kidnapped on the Pakistani border and sold to American troops until now and my being in Guantanamo, Cuba. What I will write here is not a flight of fancy or a moment of madness; what I will write here are the established facts and events agreed upon by detainees who were eyewitnesses to them, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as soldiers, investigators and interpreters.”
Al-Dossari writes that he passed through several small jails where there was a lot of abuse. “I had previously met several people when I was on the border, they were of different nationalities. They had left Afghanistan and the Pakistan Army abused us and gave us the worst food. They put me in a cell measuring four metres by four metres in which there were 59 prisoners without mattresses, blankets or a bathroom; there was only one bucket in the cell for everyone to relieve themselves in without a screen. They stole any passports from prisoners who were of many nationalities and also abused them. They abused me personally and beat me several times during investigations. The worst tribulation for us was when they transported us from one place to another: they would tie us up in the most savage way, so much so that some of us got gangrenous fingers and our hands and feet swelled and turned blue. They would tie us up for long periods of time in military trucks, sometimes from daybreak until night, in addition to the hours that they spent transporting us in trucks.”
Finally, the group of prisoners arrived at the Kohat airport where an American military plane, American soldiers and an American interpreter who spoke Arabic were waiting for them. “They took one by one and handed us over to the American soldiers. The deal was done and they sold us for a few dollars and they were not interested in us,” he adds.
According to al-Dossari, there were 30 of them, whom the soldiers mistreated. They beat them and took their pictures. They also kicked him in the stomach after he complained of pain. The plane landed at Kandhar after midnight. This happened in January 2002. There was even worse treatment for them in store. He was taken in to face two interrogators. The beatings and interrogations continued. He was asked to confess that he was a terrorist. He was in the third group to be moved to Guantanamo. They were put in cages and told not to talk or even touch the mesh. To relieve themselves, they had to be taken out. There was no privacy. Al-Dossari says one detainee by the name of Abdul Aziz Al-Masri was ill in hospital where beaten up in front of the doctors and nurses. His injuries were excessive and caused his spine to break. He is now hemiplegic. At the end of 2003, al-Dossari writes during an interrogation session, the Quran was desecrated and he was told that “this is a holy war between the star of David and the cross against the crescent.” By then Camp 5 had been constructed where he was taken and put in solitary. He says his state of health has worsened and he falls and faints every day. On 12 June he was given a plate of food with a dead scorpion on it. “Since the day that they threatened until now, I have been removing insects and dung beetles from the food and showing it to the soldier who then says, ‘Do you want another plate?’” He has also been on hunger strike
Al-Dossari concludes his account by affirming, “I would thus like to point out that not all of the soldiers in Guantanamo tortured and oppressed us. There were some soldiers who treated us humanely, some of them would cry because of what was happening to us and were embarrassed by the style of management at the camp and even by the American government, their lack of justice and oppression of us. To give an example, when I was in Camp India in Camp Delta and I was being tortured, an Afro-American came to me. He said sorry to me and gave me a cup of hot chocolate and some sweet biscuits. When I thanked him, he said, ‘I don’t want your thanks. I want you to know that we are not all bad and we think differently.’ When I was talking to a soldier and I told him what happened to me, he cried and had tears in his eyes. He was clearly moved. He said sorry to me about what had happened to me and he also offered me some food. These are examples to show the reader that there are some soldiers who have humanity, irrespective of their race, gender or faith.
”khalid hasan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C01%5C14%5Cstory_14-1-2006_pg7_48
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